BLIND MELON: 'Live At The Palace' Reissue Due In October

BLIND MELON's "Live at the Palace" CD will be reissued on October 17 with expanded packaging on Capitol/EMI.

Recorded in Los Angeles on October 11, 1995, BLIND MELON's "Live at the Palace" CD captured the band at their creative and dynamic peak: the group was touring in support of their second album and had hit its collective stride. It would turn out to be BLIND MELON's swan song, as their charismatic frontman Shannon Hoon would only live 10 days longer, felled by drug addiction. Now, the group's surviving members — bassist Brad Smith, guitarists Christopher Thorn and Rogers Stevens and drummer Glen Graham — have updated the CD release with expanded packaging that includes intimate liner notes by Stevens and never-before-seen tour photographs by Danny Clinch.

Thorn and Smith mixed the show at North Hollywood, California's Studio Wishbone — their hand-built recording studio — where they have already worked with artists including ANNA NALICK (whose debut album is gold-certified and nearing platinum) and acclaimed new artist and MTV darling CHEYENNE, as well as UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GIANTS, AMERICAN MINOR and HOME TOWN HERO.

BLIND MELON broke onto the rock scene in 1991 with their self-titled, quadruple-platinum debut album, which featured the smash hit "No Rain", whose accompanying video was a staple at MTV and brought the group international acclaim. The band toured almost non-stop through the release of 1995's "Soup" album, including gigs with THE ROLLING STONES, NEIL YOUNG and SOUNDGARDEN, but broke up after Hoon's passing.

"Live at the Palace" kicks off with Hoon welcoming their adoptive hometown of Los Angeles by exclaiming, "I had to dress up a little tonight…it's family night here." The band then rips through 12 original songs, including crowd favorites like "Tones Of Home", "Galaxie", "Change" and the inimitable "No Rain". "I can't recall why this show was recorded professionally with a mobile 24-track studio, but I'm glad it was," says Stevens. "Everybody was playing well…the band was locked down, and it felt good to be up there."

Thorn and Smith reflect on the ups and downs on life in BLIND MELON with great reverence, but are clearly focused on their current roles as music writers and producers. "It's great to be able to work with such young artists and be able to nurture them in a way," says Thorn, "but also letting them learn from our experiences and helping them bring out the music that's inside of them." Four years ago, the two decided to build their own recording spot and began work on Studio Wishbone, picking up hammers and building it themselves. "We did everything by hand except for the electric and the AC," says Smith.